The newly-appointed figure, who has joined from Bank of Singapore, will lead the German bank’s emerging markets managed investments specialist. It is adding to its discretionary, funds and alternatives teams in Asia.

Deutsche Bank’s private bank has appointed Cynthia Lai as head of managed investments, emerging markets, effective yesterday. She reports to Vivienne Chia, global head of investment solutions, and will sit on the investment solutions leadership team, the bank said in a statement. 

Lai, a managing director, will lead the bank’s managed investments specialists across emerging markets. The offering covers discretionary mandates, funds and alternative investments. 

Lai has joined from Bank of Singapore, where she was head of managed solutions advisory. Previously, she worked at Citigroup and JP Morgan.

Her hire follows the private bank’s new investment solutions operating model, introduced earlier this year. The model, which is organised around dedicated competency centres, is designed to strengthen product ownership, improve collaboration across regions and put specialist expertise closer to clients.

The bank has also added several people to the emerging markets managed investments team. Carolyn Chen is joining as a discretionary portfolio management advisor in Singapore. Agnes Fong, her direct report, is taking the same role in Hong Kong. Michael Ostro recently joined in Singapore as head of alternatives specialists, emerging markets.

This week, this news service also reported on the results of a poll that Deutsche Bank conducted among family offices and wealthy individuals about risks to their portfolios, as well as other issues. We also interviewed the bank about its work in the area of sports finance, now a hot topic in the UK and certain other countries.